For much of this year, the PGA Tour and worldwide broadcasters have been concerned with declining viewership figures on TV in relation to professional golf.
With the odd exception, usually because of a tight finish, many regular PGA Tour events have averaged fewer than two million people tuning in to watch the Sunday climax - whether it be Peter Malnati's heart-warming victory at the Valspar Championship or Matthieu Pavon's stunning success at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Even in the big-ticket tournaments like The Players or The Masters, Scottie Scheffler's victory in both wasn't enough to prevent a significant drop-off in people watching the finish at home.
However, it certainly hasn't all been bad news for golf broadcasters and the PGA Tour, and Rory McIlroy's walk-off win at last week's Wells Fargo Championship proved that the end doesn't even have to be that competitive to lure fans in front of their screens.
The Northern Irishman - who just a day later filed for divorce from wife, Erica - began last Sunday with a one-shot deficit to Xander Schauffele at the top but quickly turned the tables, going on to claim his fourth Wells Fargo Championship by five shots thanks to a six-under final round.
CBS has a big increase Sunday for Rory McIlroy's win at Quail Hollow, with the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship drawing 2.778 million viewers. That's up 34% from 2.073 million last year for Wyndham Clark's win. Sunday peaked at 3.830 million. pic.twitter.com/WnZMtfzQ3nMay 14, 2024
The golf was fascinating from McIlroy, even if the contest fizzled out quite quickly around the turn. But nevertheless, figures from Sports Business Journal's Josh Carpenter showed that the interest of fans at home was still piqued by what went down at Quail Hollow.
In a post on social media, Carpenter said: "CBS has a big increase Sunday for Rory McIlroy's win at Quail Hollow, with the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship drawing 2.778 million viewers. That's up 34% from 2.073 million last year for Wyndham Clark's win. Sunday peaked at 3.830 million."
The peak number was around 300,000 more than the average figure for Scheffler's triumph at The Players and an astounding 1.5 million more than the average for the American's Arnold Palmer Invitational score - another of the PGA Tour's Signature Events.
Speaking about the subject of fans' interest in men's pro golf right now ahead of this week's PGA Championship, Max Homa believes "the internet probably makes it seem worse than it really is" but admitted it is tough to love watching the sport right now.
He said: "Yeah, it's been a bit tricky. I do feel like the internet probably makes it seem worse than it really is. It's a very small community and they're incredibly loud. So I think if you spend a lot of time on the internet, it does feel like professional golf is crumbling.
"It's tough to decipher, because when we're on the grounds of events, it's amazing. Last week at Quail Hollow was awesome. Felt no different at Bay Hill. Felt no different -- The Players felt no different. So it's odd, it doesn't feel like it's dying, yet you hear a lot of very valid complaints on the internet.
"So I think it's been, it's very troubling. I don't like where it's going. It's got to be exhausting to be a casual golf fan at this point in time. I don't know why you would want to hear about the business side of this game."
Meanwhile, McIlroy shared his thoughts on the subject before last month's Masters tournament. Asked where he thinks the fans' levels of interest are right now, the World No.2 pointed to TV viewing figures as a measure of the declining support for men's pro golf.
He said: “I know this isn’t a be-all, end-all, but if you look at the TV ratings of the PGA Tour this year, they’re down 20 percent across the board. That’s a fifth. That’s big.
“That’s where I said like things need a correction and things are unsustainable because I’m close with NBC and the people that really care about these things and the people that tune in to watch golf. You know, 20% is a pretty jarring number this year.
"I would say the numbers on LIV aren’t great either in terms of the people tuning in. I just think with the fighting and everything that’s went on over the past couple years, people are just getting really fatigued of it and it’s turning people off men’s professional golf, and that’s not a good thing for anyone.”
